The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

Shayla responded to his unspoken desire. The words were as clear in his mind as if the immense creature had spoken.
    He reached a tentative hand to her velvet-soft muzzle. When he would have pulled his hand back she butted into his outstretched palm, just as any tame steed would nuzzle for attention or treats. The smooth fur that covered her body invited an extended caress. He reached around to her cheek bulge and scratched.
    Ahh! He felt her sigh of delight.
    “Awroof,” Darville begged for his share of attention. He stood with his front paws on the same log as the dragon. He seemed taller, closer to his true height as a man. But he still held the form of a wolf. Jaylor gave the wolf his requested scratch while keeping his other hand on the dragon. Now that he was touching her, communicating with her, he couldn’t bear to lose contact.
    “Oh, my!” Brevelan gasped.
    Jaylor turned to look at her and smiled. He extended his hand, inviting her to share the wonderful experience of tactile contact with Shayla. His arm came around her shoulders quite naturally. For a moment the image of family flooded him. He shrugged it off, but it returned.
    You did well. You all came. Shayla rotated her eyes to see both of them at once.
    “We were followed,” Jaylor explained.
    I know. He used timboor to hear your footsteps. We must hurry. The dragon indulged in one last caress and then reared up and turned. Her movements were graceful and precise. None of her dangerous claws, or wing hooks, or sharp tail spines touched her guests. Instead the massive tail seemed to encircle them and guide them toward an opening in the cliff.
    You must remove Darville’s enchantment now.
    “Me?” Jaylor stopped and clasped his hands behind his back in uncertainty. “You’re the magic dragon. I’ll need your help.”
    Only you can save him from degenerating into a wild beast.
    “I can’t do it alone.”
    The air is full of magic. For a brief time I can give you more. It must be enough.
     
    They have found her! I can feel it. The core of magic has expanded to include them.
    They seek to reverse my spell. But they can’t. They never will. It is a special spell, a secret. When the magician tries to unravel the magic around the wolf they will both be forever frozen in undeath.
    I will rejoice with Simurgh to add them to my collection.

Chapter 17
     
    B aamin lit a small oil lamp in the dim recess of his inner study. The day had suddenly gone dark. Chill dampness promised rain. He shrugged off the sudden iciness climbing his spine and returned to the fascinating book on his desk.
    As much as he would have liked to dwell on the early life of the great Nimbulan, there wasn’t time now. He had to skip large sections of the magician’s private journal.
    He paused and read a paragraph here and there. The painful Great Wars of Disruption were retold in heart-wrenching detail. Each contender for the throne, in that long ago civil war, had brought to his cause a different magician. When armies failed, sorcerers fought. Many died.
    The words recounting each death tore at Baamin three hundred years later. He knew what it was like to lose a friend and compatriot. As long-lived as magicians tended to be, very few of his contemporaries still survived. He remembered the agonizing sense of loss at each death and felt again the reduction in magic caused by their passing.
    Dragon magic needed numbers of men working together. It grew and expanded like a living being under the careful cultivation of the Commune. A strong Commune was the direct result of a strong nimbus of dragons. And there were so few dragons or magicians left! The fate of the kingdom hinged on the dragons.
    Now Baamin faced the need for strong magic and a strong king without the means to provide either.
    Darcine might appear to be reviving. But Baamin suspected it was only temporary and dependent on Shayla’s gravid condition. The last two times Shayla had bred, the normally indecisive king had undergone similar periods of renewed strength and determination. Each time the baby dragons had been slaughtered, King Darcine had fallen gravely ill. If anything should happen to the dragon or her litter this time, the king would not survive.
    A sentence caught Baamin’s eye.
    The pattern has become clear. Lord. . . .
    The name was smudged and unreadable. Perhaps Nimbulan had deliberately obscured the name to avoid calling its owner and thus giving him power.
    Lord . . . has been gathering an